Top 10 Tips for Effective PPC Campaigns

Published:
Nov 24, 2008

1. Separate / Create Keyword Buckets for Each AdGroup For Example: “Key West Resorts” and “Key West Hotels” should be two different AdGroups. When you separate keywords this way, you can then cater your AdCopy appropriately. This means that the AdCopy will be relevant to the keyword list and help you better track the results. You can clearly see if “Key West Hotels” outperforms “Key West Resorts”

2. Make sure AdCopy is Keyword Rich If you are using “Key West Resorts” as a keyword, mention “Key West” + “Resort” as much as possible,. This strategy will help in creating a high Quality Score in Google and other search engines. If the AdCopy is not Keyword Rich your quality score will decrease… meaning you will spend more money for trying to land in the same position.

3. Pay Attention to Quality Score If you have a keyword that is “Poor” quality, consider deleting this keyword so that it does not drag the overall Quality Score of your AdGroup down. Remember that Quality Score has a direct correlation to your AdGroup’s minimal CPC.

4. Use Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) Using DKI when appropriate makes your AdCopy appear to be very relevant for the searcher. If a user searches for “Resorts in Key West”, your AdCopy would appear to say “Resorts in Key West”. This would result much more likely in a click, since the result would appear bold with the exact query of the searcher.

5. Geo-Targeting If you know that 95 percent of your feeder market comes from California, Oregon, and Washington, be sure to use Geo-Targeting to target these. By using geo-targeting you can also save money and achieve higher conversion.

6. Have a Strong Negative List If you are selling iPods, but not the accessories, be sure to create a “negative list of keywords” such as “batteries”, “docks” and “ear buds”. You do not want your ads to show when you are not offering products that satisfy the search. By doing so you will notice a decrease in your CPC and an increase in conversion, since more relevant traffic will be flowing to your site.

7. Select the Right Landing Page Send “Key West Wedding” traffic to the Key West Wedding landing page on your website. This is particularly important since landing on the right page will improve your overall quality score. People will be much happier when they get exactly what they expected when they clicked on your link.

8. Turn Off Content Match People that click on Content Ads are typically not in the mindset to convert. If you must serve on the Content network, make sure to separate the AdGroups: One AdGroup for Search and one AdGroup for Content. This way it is easier to track the performance of each campaign.

9. Create Multiple AdCopies and perform A/B testing Create at least 2 AdCopies per AdGroup so that you have an idea of what AdCopies people are attracted to. If possible, create 3 – 4 per AdGroup. The more Ad variations you create, the easier it is to see what is effective and what is not. You can determine what kind of words generate clicks in the ad copy and what words drive people away.

10. Track Your Account Performance Gather as much data as you can on CTR, Clicks, Conversions and then analyze them to optimize your website. For example, if you can identify that “Key West Resort” at position 4 has a 25% margin, test to see if moving the bid up to be in position 4 can create an even higher margin. It is important to carefully monitor your campaigns and try to get the most bang for your buck!